"God saved me and just me on that special day because I am special" and other absurdities

            It is not uncommon for us to hear stories of near-death experiences. One such near-death experience is often that wherein the person, because of a delay of some sort, was kept from his rendez-vous with death. One has heard stories of individuals who, because of a traffic jam, were unable to board their scheduled flight and, whilst waiting for the later flight, heard news that the earlier departure had crashed, killing everyone on board.

             What is curious to me is how so often these individuals, having cheated death, so often neglect to show sympathy for the dead and their loved ones, and prefer to focus on how God "intervened" specifically for them. Of course, this is not true for all those who have been spared a violent demise by a twist of fate, but it is distressingly commonplace.

              Let us take the case of a person who, having forgotten to set his alarm clock after a terrible bout of insomnia which kept him from slumber until five in the morning, did not arise until ten in the morning. As a result, he missed the start of his traditional work day at 8:00 a.m. Let us also say that this individual is a resident of New York City and that his workplace was the World Trade Center and that the day he overslept was the eleventh of September. An odd twist of fate kept him from losing his life in an inferno. Should this individual utter that he was "saved" and that "God had looked out for him," one would be justified in taking such an individual to task. The reason for this is that over 3,000 people died on that tragic day. When the individual says that God intervened for him that tragic morning, what it translates to is that God deemed the life of that one individual special and the lives of the victims as insignificant. He chose to retain that one individual on this Earth and let the others perish.

           Such thinking is tragically common among the populace. To believe that one occupies a post so exalted that God would single him out for preservation upon this Earth and let others be incinerated shows a callous egotism. Yet, this mode of thinking is so accepted by those who have narrowly averted a violent death. It is selfish, solipsistic, immature and indicative of an ego spiraling out of control. The very notion that your life mattered in the eyes of God, but those who perished did not shows a form of cognitive dissonance that could be dangerous if the person holding it were to acquire power over others. Often times, the survivor will boast that God saved him owing to the fact that he had a "special plan" for him and that he was left upon this Earth to fulfill it. To place oneself above others because you feel that you are one of the elect is dangerous. Several dark chapters in world history were authored by those who believed themselves divinely selected by a higher power to do his work.

             For those who have endured a near-death experience, it is a sobering reminder of one's mortality, a thoroughly distressing grasp of how fragile our existence really is. The experience would naturally lead any reflective person to contemplate his role upon this Earth. What it should not do is fill the mind of the survivor with delusions that he has survived because he is more beloved in the eyes of a deity he can never directly know, at least not in this lifetime.

            The fact that such a deviation from rational thought can go largely unchecked in modern society is a sad indication. The loss of life is a tragedy, leaving behind devastation for the loved ones. No positive purpose is served by suggesting that one individual was spared the same fate because he is more beloved in the eyes of the creator. It is a terrible manifestation of egotism that must be questioned whenever it arises.